System and method for identifying a caller using associated sounds

ABSTRACT

A system ( 10 ) and method for identifying a caller using associated voice or sound announcements is disclosed. An associated voice announcement or announcements may be in calling party&#39;s own voice. The system ( 10 ) is capable of playing a different announcement in place of each ring. The different announcements may be played sequentially, randomly, or pseudo-randomly. Alternatively, a single announcement may be played in lieu of a single selected ring or in lieu of all rings after a specified ring.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No.60/437,404, filed 31 Dec. 2002 (the '404 application). The '404application is hereby incorporated by reference as though fully setforth herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

a. Field of the Invention

The instant invention is directed toward a system and method foridentifying a caller using associated sounds. More specifically, itrelates to using one or more voice or sound announcements to identify acaller.

b. Background Art

So-called “caller ID” systems are well-known and readily available. Thesystems are also known as calling number delivery systems or CNDsystems. Using such systems, telephone companies offer the ability tosee the name and telephone number of a caller using a display box or ona caller-ID-enabled telephone. Similar capabilities are available forboth cellular and landline-based telephone users. This service may beused, for example, to screen unwanted telephone calls completely or toscreen certain telephone calls at specific times of the day. Still othersystems exist that permit “distinctive rings” to be used to aurallyidentify callers to a call-receiving party. In these systems, thetelephone is programmed to ring in a certain tone pattern depending uponthe identity of the caller.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,787,626 discloses a system for displaying the callingparty's telephone number at the telephone set of the called party. Eachof the calling locations must include a transmitter for transmitting apulse train of audio frequency signals. The subscriber receives thissignal and upon decoding the signal provides identification of thetelephone number calling the subscriber. The subscriber then has theoption of whether to answer the telephone.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,266,098 describes a device to screen incoming telephonecalls. In the system described in the '098 patent, the identity of thecaller is determined and then the call is processed accordingly. Toaccomplish its objectives, the '098 system responds to a three-digitcode previously assigned to each caller. Upon entering the three-digitcode, the caller is either connected or routed to voicemail dependingupon how the system has been programmed to respond to the calls fromeach particular caller. For example, a call from a first caller maycause the telephone to ring normally no matter what time of day the callarrives, whereas a call from a second caller may result in the telephoneringing only during certain times of the day or not at all. Since thedisposition of a call is determined by how the system is programmed inadvance to respond to the call, it may provide some additional privacybut does not allow the called person to make a spontaneous decisionwhether to answer or ignore a particular telephone call when the callactually comes in.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,672,660 describes yet another method and system forcall-receiving parties to identify telephone callers prior to answeringthe telephone. Each call-receiving party who received incoming calls isassigned a plurality of numbers, which the subscriber later gives toindividuals and organizations from which the subscriber wishes toidentify telephone calls prior to answering. When one of the individualsor organizations telephones using the number that the subscriber gave tothat entity, the '660 system generates a digitally synthesized vocalannouncement of at least the number being called. Since the subscriberknows the entity to which that announced number was assigned, thesubscriber likewise knows the identity of the caller.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,445 discloses a system for aurally identifying acaller based upon the received caller ID information by playing a singleprerecorded message associated with the caller ID information. Thecall-receiving party records a single message identifying the callerthat is played when the caller ID information is matched upon receipt ofan incoming telephone call. The '445 system does not disclose, forexample, having multiple voice or sound announcements associated with asingle telephone number, and it does not disclose the use of callannouncements that are recorded in the caller's own voice.

Despite the existence of the above-mentioned systems, there remains aneed for a system and method to easily and unmistakably identify callersbefore one picks up the telephone and without having to look at sometype of display. There also remains a need for a system that is capableof playing more than one announcement in response to a single incomingtelephone call.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is desirable to be able to easily and unmistakably identify callersbefore one picks up the telephone and without having to look at sometype of display. Accordingly, it is an object of the disclosed inventionto provide an improved system and method for a called party to identifycertain incoming calls.

In one embodiment, the present invention comprises a system foridentifying an incoming caller to a call-receiving party, the systemcomprising means for identifying a telephone number from which anincoming call has been placed; means for associating a plurality ofaural announcements with the identified telephone number, wherein theplurality of aural announcements identify the incoming caller to thecall-receiving party; and means for selecting and playing, upon receiptof the incoming call, a first one of the plurality of auralannouncements in response to receipt of a first selected ring pulse, andfor selecting and playing a second one of the plurality of auralannouncements in response to receipt of a second ring pulse.

In another embodiment, the present invention comprises a system foridentifying an incoming caller to a call-receiving party, the systemcomprising means for storing a first plurality of selectableannouncements; means for detecting connection of a first telephone callto a telephone line of the call-receiving party; means for determining atelephone number of the first telephone call upon the detecting meansdetecting connection of the first telephone call to the telephone lineof the call-receiving party; means for associating the first pluralityof selectable announcements with the telephone number of the firsttelephone call; means for selecting a first announcement from the firstplurality of selectable announcements to be played in response to afirst selected ring pulse received at the telephone line; means foraurally playing the first announcement in lieu of the first selectedring pulse producing a first ringing sound; means for selecting a secondannouncement from the first plurality of selectable announcements to beplayed in response to a second selected ring pulse received at thetelephone line; and means for aurally playing the second announcement inlieu of the second selected ring pulse producing a second ringing sound.

In yet another embodiment, the present invention comprises a system foraurally identifying an incoming caller before answering a telephone, thesystem comprising (a) associating means for associating a firstplurality of aural announcements with a first telephone number and forassociating a second plurality of aural announcements with a secondtelephone number, wherein the first plurality of aural announcementsidentify a first caller, and wherein the second plurality of auralannouncements identify a second caller; (b) identifying means foridentifying a first plurality of ring pulses generated in response to afirst incoming telephone call originating from the first telephonenumber, and for identifying a second plurality of ring pulses generatedin response to a second incoming telephone call originating from thesecond telephone number, (c) selecting means for (i) selecting a firstaural announcement from the first plurality of aural announcements inresponse to a first ring pulse in the first plurality of ring pulses;(ii) selecting a second aural announcement from the first plurality ofaural announcements in response to a second ring pulse in the firstplurality of ring pulses; (iii) selecting a first aural announcementfrom the second plurality of aural announcements in response to a firstring pulse in the second plurality of ring pulses; and (iv) selecting asecond aural announcement from the second plurality of auralannouncements in response to a second ring pulse in the second pluralityof ring pulses; and (d) playing means for (i) playing the first auralannouncement from the first plurality of aural announcements in lieu ofthe first ring pulse in the first plurality of ring pulses; (ii) playingthe second aural announcement from the first plurality of auralannouncements in lieu of the second ring pulse in the first plurality ofring pulses; (iii) playing the first aural announcement from the secondplurality of aural announcements in lieu of the first ring pulse in thesecond plurality of ring pulses; and (iv) playing the second auralannouncement from the second plurality of aural announcements in lieu ofthe second ring pulse in the second plurality of ring pulses.

In still another embodiment, the present invention comprises a method ofidentifying an incoming caller. The method comprises the steps of (1)identifying the assigned telephone number from which a telephone calloriginates; (2) checking a storage location for at least oneannouncement associated with the assigned telephone number, wherein theat least one associated announcement is recorded in the incomingcaller's own voice; (3) selecting a first associated announcement fromthe at least one announcement associated with the assigned telephonenumber; and (4) playing the selected first associated announcement.

In another embodiment, the present invention again comprises a method ofidentifying an incoming caller. In this embodiment, the methodcomprising the steps of (a) storing a plurality of announcements in afirst memory location; (b) associating the plurality of announcementswith a particular caller's telephone number; (c) monitoring a telephoneline for an incoming call from the particular caller's telephone number;(d) selecting, upon receipt of the incoming call from the particularcaller's telephone number at a call-receiving party's telephone, a firstannouncement from the plurality of announcements associated with theparticular caller's telephone number, and (e) playing the firstannouncement in lieu of the call-receiving party's telephone ringing.

In yet another embodiment, the present invention comprises a method ofidentifying a telephone caller to a call-receiving party. In thisembodiment, the method comprising the steps of (a) identifying atelephone number of an incoming telephone call; (b) searching a memorylocation for at least three aural announcements associated with theidentified telephone number; (c) selecting a first aural announcementfrom the at least three aural announcements; (d) retrieving the firstaural announcement from the memory location; and (e) playing the firstaural announcement for the call-receiving party in lieu of the incomingtelephone call generating a ring tone.

In each of the above-mentioned embodiments, the announcements to beplayed may be randomly selected or pseudo-randomly selected from aplurality of available and active announcements. Alternatively, theannouncements may be played seriatim as stored.

The foregoing and other aspects, features, details, utilities, andadvantages of the present invention will be apparent from reading thefollowing description and claims, and from reviewing the accompanyingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A-1C depict a flowchart of a control program that may be used toset up a Caller Announce Unit or CAU according to one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of a number of techniques fordelivering announcements to the CAU for association with incomingtelephone calls from a particular caller.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of a CAU depicting one possible configuration.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the CAU depicted in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a schematic representation of an incoming call being announcedby the CAU.

FIGS. 6A-6E depict a flowchart of a control program that may be used tooperate the CAU according to one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention comprises a system and method that permit acall-receiving party to aurally identify a caller without personallyanswering a telephone call. The system includes a Caller Announce Unit(CAU) 10 (see, e.g., FIGS. 2-5) that permits a prior recording of thecaller's actual voice, for example, to announce an incoming call to thecall-receiving party. In particular, one or more previously-recordeddigital or analog announcements are selected and played via the CAU 10.If a plurality of announcements are associated with the telephone numberof a particular caller, the CAU may be configured to selectively playthose announcements in an order desired by the call-receiving party. Thedesired order may be, for example, random, pseudo-random, or sequential.In general, the CAU, among other things, (i) stores one or moreannouncements; (ii) associates the stored announcement(s) with thetelephone number of a particular caller; (iii) answers an incoming call;and (iv) processes all of the logic (as explained further below), whichincludes the set-up logic depicted in FIGS. 1A-1C, and thecall-processing logic depicted in FIGS. 6A-6E for identifying a callerand playing any available announcement or announcements in the desiredorder.

In one embodiment, the call-receiving party subscribes to caller-IDservice provided by a telephone service provider. Upon receiving anincoming telephone call, the CAU resolves the telephone number of theincoming call and plays a previously-recorded announcement rather thanmerely displaying the name or telephone number of the calling party. Theannouncement may include the calling party's actual voice delivering adesired statement (e.g., “Hey Bob, it's Joe, pick up the phone.”), andthe announcement may change with each “ring” of the telephone.

As used herein, the term “caller” or “calling party” includes anyonetrying to establish communication with a call-receiving party having aCAU according to the present invention by placing a telephone call or bysending an email or by delivering any other message. “Callers” thusinclude, for example, telephone callers, whether from a landline or acellular connection, and people sending emails or text messages. As usedherein, the term “call” includes a telephone call, an email, a textmessage, or any other message made, sent, or delivered in an attempt tocommunicate with a call-receiving party. The term “announcement” is usedherein to mean an audible, actual voice sample from a calling party orany other sounds (e.g., musical sounds, animal or other natural sounds,motorcycle sounds, or synthesized sounds) that the call-receiving partywants to associate with calls from a particular calling party. For easeof description, a preferred embodiment of the invention is describedbelow by focusing on how the CAU may be used to identify a callerplacing a telephone call to a call-receiving party.

Referring most specifically to FIGS. 1A-1C, a control program that maybe used to set up a CAU 10 according to one embodiment of the presentinvention is described next. The process starts at block 100. At block102, the CAU is initialized. During initialization, the CAU's operatingparameters are checked, its memory is checked, and any number of otherchecks may be performed to ensure that the CAU is functioning asexpected. Initialization occurs automatically upon powering up the CAU(e.g., by pressing an on/off button 40 on the CAU 10—see FIG. 4, whichis a front view of one possible configuration for a CAU). Initializationalso may be done manually by, for example, pressing a button 42 (FIG. 4)on the CAU 10. At block 104, the CAU opens an association phonebook.When the association phonebook is open, information about the callersfrom whom the call-receiving party already has received telephone calls,or the callers from whom the call-receiving party expects to receivetelephone calls, are displayed on a screen 30 (see FIG. 3, which is atop plan view of one possible configuration for a CAU). The informationdisplayed may include, for example, the caller's name and telephonenumber. It is possible to pan through the listed telephone numbers usingan up button 32 and a down button 34 (FIG. 3).

At decision point 106, the control program learns whether the telephonenumber for which the call-receiving party desires to be able to identifycallers is already present in the association phonebook. For example,the person setting up the CAU may begin entering the desired telephonenumber using keys on an alphanumeric keypad 36 (FIG. 3). As the keys arepressed, the closest match to the number being entered is displayed in abox 38 on the screen 30. If the desired telephone number is present inthe association phonebook, it will appear in the box 38 at some pointwhile the number is being keyed in. If the desired telephone number isnot already present in the association phonebook, the new telephonenumber must be fully entered using the alphanumeric keypad 36.Alternatively, for numbers already in the association phonebook, theperson setting up the CAU may use only the up button 32 and the downbutton 34 to locate the desired telephone number.

Once a new telephone number has been fully entered (block 108) or anexisting telephone number has been located using one of the previouslydescribed techniques, the number is selected at block 110 by, forexample, pressing the Select/Enter button 39 (FIG. 3). Then, controltransfers to block 112 where a first menu is displayed. This first menuprovides an access point for setting up the CAU. At decision point 114,the system determines whether a valid menu selection has been madeusing, for example, the alphanumeric keypad 36. If not, the systemcontinues to display the first menu and waits for a valid keypad entry.Once a valid selection has been made, control transfers to decisionpoint 116. If option (2) was selected from the first menu, the set-upprogram ends (block 118), and the CAU 10 returns to an idle screen.

If, on the other hand, option (1) was selected from the first menu,control transfers to decision block 120 where the set-up programdetermines whether at least one announcement has already been associatedwith the selected telephone number. If no announcement is alreadyassociated with the selected telephone number, the CAU 10 indicates thison its display 30 at block 122, and the CAU asks whether announcementsare to be added (decision point 124). If no new announcements are to beadded, control transfer to block 118, the set-up program ends, and theCAU returns to an idle screen.

If at decision point 124, the program determines that new announcementsare to be added, control is transferred to block 126, which is anoff-page connector symbol transferring control to block 130 on FIG. 1B.From block 130, the set-up program next advances to block 132 and beginsthe process for adding a new announcement. The process 200 of adding anew announcement is depicted schematically in FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of a number of techniques fordelivering announcements to the CAU 10 for association with a particulartelephone number. In the embodiment of the invention depicted in FIG. 2,new announcements may include previously-manipulated materials as wellas spontaneously-originated materials. Item 202 schematically representspreviously-manipulated materials being delivered to the CAU 10, and item204 schematically represents spontaneously-originated materials beingdelivered to the CAU 10. Previously-manipulated materials may include,for example, spoken words or sounds that have been somehow alteredbefore being delivered to the CAU. Spontaneously-originated materialsmay include, for example, substantially unaltered spoken words andsounds, or combinations of these, being delivered to the CAU 10.

FIG. 2 depicts a distribution bar 206, which schematically connects oneof the announcement sources 202, 204 to a variety of announcementdelivery means, including a portable storage device 208 (e.g., floppydisk, ZIP® disk, flash memory card, removable tape, hard drive, CD,DVD), an antenna 210 representing wireless delivery of the announcement(e.g., Wi-Fi, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, cellular), a computer network212 (e.g., the Internet), and a hardwired, direct connection 214.Distribution bar 216 schematically connects each of the announcementdelivery means to the CAU 10. Any connection (e.g., USB, serial,parallel, FireWire, infrared) or other hardware or software interfacethat maybe required to connect an announcement source 202, 204 to theCAU 10 is subsumed by the distribution bars 206, 216 and theannouncement delivery means 208-214 depicted in FIG. 2. Examplesinclude, but are not limited to, the following: (i) directly connectinga microphone to a port on the CAU 10 itself or incorporating amicrophone into the CAU 10 itself; (ii) writing an announcement to aflash memory card and subsequently inserting the flash memory card intoa slot on the CAU 10 itself; (iii) transferring an announcement to amemory location on the CAU 10 via a CAU antenna (not shown) usingcellular technology (e.g., the same technology used to wirelesslytransfer ring tones and icons to modern cellular telephones); and (iv)connecting the CAU 10 to the Internet using a modem and downloading anannouncement directly into a memory location on the CAU 10. If the CAU10 includes or is connected to an answering machine, the system alsopermits conversion of a voicemail message into an announcement. Forexample, the caller may leave a voicemail message on the call-receivingparty's answering machine that is to be played to announce futuretelephone calls from that caller. The CAU 10 may be configured to permitdirect or indirect conversion of the voicemail message into anannouncement to facilitate identification of the caller during futuretelephone calls.

The schematic depiction of FIG. 2 not only represents the delivery of anannouncement to the CAU, but also represents association of thedelivered announcement with a particular telephone number.

Returning to FIG. 1B, after at least one announcement has beenassociated with a telephone number, control is transferred to block 134,where a second menu is displayed. This second menu offers the option toedit the announcement that was just recorded, and is the menu to whichcontrol would have been transferred in block 128 (FIG. 1A) if at leastone announcement had already been associated with the selected telephonenumber when decision point 120 was previously reached. In this latterscenario, the logic would move from decision point 120 to off-pagetransfer block 128, which would transfer control to correspondingoff-page transfer block 135 on FIG. 1B before reaching block 134 wherethe second menu is displayed. At decision point 136, the logic beginsresolving what action is to be taken by checking to see whether one ofthe announcements is to be edited. If in fact an existing announcementis to be edited, control is transferred to block 138. At block 138, athird menu is displayed, giving the options of playing the announcement,deleting the announcement, renaming the announcement, or returning tothe previous menu. At decision point 140, the program loops continuouslyuntil one of the four available options is selected.

When one of the available options has been selected, control transfersto decision point 142, where the logic checks to see if it should returnto the second menu. In particular, if option (4) has been selected,control is returned to block 134, and the second menu is againdisplayed. If option (1), (2), or (3) has been selected, the logic movesto decision point 144. If at decision point 144 it is determined thatoption (1) was selected, the selected announcement is played at block146 (e.g., through the speaker 50 (see FIG. 4)), and then the third menuis again presented at block 138. If, on the other hand, it is determinedthat option (2) or option (3) was selected, then control passes todecision point 148. At decision point 148, the logic checks to seewhether option (3) was selected. If it is true that option (3) wasselected, the user is given an opportunity to rename the selectedannouncement at block 150 before control is returned to block 138 andthe third menu is again displayed. At block 150, the logic permits therenaming of the particular selected announcement using the alphanumerickeypad 36 shown to good advantage in FIG. 3, which is a top plan view ofone possible configuration for a CAU 10.

If at decision point 148 the logic determines that option (3) was notselected, the logic then knows that option (2) had been selected anddeletes the selected announcement at block 152 before control isreturned to block 134 and the second menu is again displayed.

Returning to decision point 136 on FIG. 1B, if it is determined that anitem other than items (1) to (n) has been selected from the second menu,control transfers to decision point 154. It should be noted that,whenever no announcements are available for the selected telephonenumber (e.g., if at block 152, the only announcement gets deleted beforecontrol returns to block 134 to display the second menu), only the lasttwo options shown on the second menu (i.e., option n+2 and option n+3)will be available. That is, when no announcements exist, the onlyoptions are to add a new announcement (option n+2) or to exit the secondmenu (option n+3), which would return the system to the idle screen.This is true since you cannot edit nonexistent announcements, and youcannot tell the logic how or when to play nonexistent announcements.

If at decision point 154 it is determined that option (n+1) was notselected, control transfers to decision point 156 where the logicestablishes whether option (n+2) was selected. If option (n+2) was infact selected, control transfers to decision point 158. At decisionpoint 158, the CAU 10 determines whether is has reached any capacitylimits—for example, whether no additional announcements may beassociated with the selected telephone number (assuming such a limitexists) and whether the total available memory has been used. If the CAU10 has reached some type of capacity limit a message is displayed atblock 160 before control is returned to block 134 and the second menu isdisplayed. If a capacity limit has been reached, the logic preventsoption (n+2) from being available on the second menu (e.g., it might begrayed out and unselectable). If at decision point 158 the logicdetermines that no capacity problems exist, control is transferred toblock 132 and the user is given the opportunity to add a newannouncement as previously discussed before control returns to block 134and the second menu is again displayed.

Returning to decision point 156 on FIG. 1B, if the logic determines thatoption (n+2) was not selected from the second menu, control istransferred to decision point 162 where the logic check to see whetheroption (n+3) was selected. If option (n+3) was selected, controltransfers to end block 164 and the display returns to an idle screen. Itshould also be noted that if decision block 162 determines that option(n+3) was not selected, the logic concludes that other than options (1)to (n), (n+1), (n+2), or (n+3) was selected, which would be an invalidselection, causing the logic to loop back to block 134, where the secondmenu would again be displayed.

Returning to decision point 154 on FIG. 1B, if the logic determines thatoption (n+1) was selected from the second menu, control is transferredvia off-page connection point 166 to corresponding connection point 168on FIG. 1C and then to block 170 where a fourth menu is displayed. Thefourth menu is used to set “action information,” including selectingwhich announcements will be active for a particular telephone number(i.e., the “active announcement or announcements), what ring number mustoccur before the logic plays announcements in lieu of letting thetelephone ring (i.e., the “reference ring”), and how the activeannouncements are to be played (i.e., the “play option”). The “actioninformation” may be set up to affect all telephone numbers for which theCAU 10 has announcement information, or it may be set upphone-number-by-phone-number.

At decision point 172, the logic determines whether a valid option hasbeen selected. If not, the logic continues to loop back to block 170 anddisplays the fourth menu until a valid selection is made. If a validselection is made (i.e., option (1), (2), (3), or (4) is selected),control transfers to decision point 174. If option (1) was selected,control transfers to block 176, and the user is allowed to select whichof the available announcements for a particular telephone number will beactive. The logic permits all of the available announcements or a subsetof the available announcements to be active. For example, there may befour available announcements, but the user may only want to use three ofthem for now. The CAU 10 may be configured to accept the user'stemporary selection of three out of the four available announcementswithout making the user delete the fourth announcement. This saves theuser from having to re-enter the fourth announcement if the user laterdecides to include the temporarily unused fourth announcement among theannouncements that may end up being played. Also, if no announcementsare made active, the telephone would ring normally when calls arereceived from the selected telephone number without the user beingrequired to delete all of the announcements from the CAU. After theactive announcements are set, the logic returns to block 170 andredisplays the fourth menu. If at decision point 174 the logicdetermines that option (1) was not selected, control transfers todecision point 178.

At decision point 178, the logic determines whether option (2) wasselected. If the answer is “yes,” control transfers to block 180. Atblock 180, the “reference ring” is assigned to variable “X.” Byselecting or setting the “reference ring,” the user tells the CAU 10which ring pulse is to be used as a reference point for starting to playone or more announcements in place of rings, as explained further below.It should be noted that, as explained further below, the “referencering” value is ignored if the “play option” (discussed in detail below)is set to “do not play announcement” (i.e., option (1) from the fifthmenu, which is displayed at block 186 on FIG. 1C). If the “play option”is set to “do not play announcements,” the telephone rings normallyuntil either the telephone is answered or the caller hangs up.

The “reference ring” is set by the user to a whole number greater thanor equal to zero. The “reference ring” is stored as variable “X” andrepresents the number of normal or “standard” rings to occur before anyselected announcement is played. For example, if “play option” were setto (5) (see the fifth menu at block 186 on FIG. 1C) and “X” were set to“2,” the phone would ring normally for the first two rings, then anannouncement would be played in place of the third ring, and then thephone would ring normally in response to the fourth and all subsequentring pulses from the telephone line. If “play option” is set to (6) (seethe fifth menu) and “X” is set to “0,” selected announcement “n” wouldbe played in place of the first ring and all subsequent rings (i.e., thetelephone would never ring normally). The “reference ring” could alsorepresent a particular ring to be replaced by an announcement.

If at decision point 178, the logic determines whether option (2) wasnot selected from the fourth menu (see block 170 on FIG. 1C), the logictransfers to decision point 182. If decision point 182 determines thatoption (3) was not selected, the logic knows that option (4) wasselected from the fourth menu and transfers control to return block 184,which returns the logic to off-page transfer point 166 on FIG. 1B andultimately to block 134 on FIG. 1B, which causes the second menu to beredisplayed. If, on the other hand, the answer is “yes” at decisionpoint 182 (i.e., option (3) from the fourth menu was selected), controltransfers to block 186. At block 186, the fifth menu, which is the “playoption” menu, is displayed.

At decision point 188, the logic checks to see if a valid option hasbeen selected. If a valid selection was not made, the logic continuouslyloops back to block 186 until a valid selection is made. If a valid menuselection has been made, the logic transfers control to decision point190. If at this decision point 190 the logic determines that the userdesires to exit to the fifth menu, control returns to block 170, whichdisplays the fourth menu. If, on the other hand, the logic determines atdecision point 190 that the user has made a valid “play option”selection, control transfers to block 192 where the selected play optionis stored by the logic before control returns to block 170, which againdisplays the fourth menu.

By selecting or setting the “play option,” the user tells the CAU 10 howto select and play the active announcement or announcements in place ofone or more rings. In other words, by selecting a particular “playoption,” the user sets the CAU 10 to take no action or to take aspecific action. The “play option” could, for example, be set to one ofthe following values:

-   -   (1) Do not play announcement upon receiving a call from this        telephone number    -   (2) After reference ring “X,” loop through all active        announcements in order during a call    -   (3) After reference ring “X,” play all active announcements        randomly during a call    -   (4) After reference ring “X,” play all active announcements        pseudo-randomly during a call    -   (5) Play the selected announcement once per call in place of the        ring after reference ring “X”    -   (6) Play the selected announcement in place of all rings after        reference ring “X”    -   (7) Increase the volume at which the active announcement(s)        is/are played with each successive ring

Under “play option” (1) from the fifth menu (see FIG. 1C), the phonewould ring normally and no announcements, even if available, would beplayed. Optionally, the CAU 10 could be set up to ring normally, but toincrease the volume with each ring by selecting play options (1) and(7). This “increasing-volume feature,” which is discussed further below,could be applied to any of the “play options.”

Under “play option” (2) from the fifth menu, the CAU would loop throughall active announcements, playing, for example, a first activeannouncement in place of the first ring, a second active announcement inplace of the second ring, a third active announcement in place of thethird ring, and so on, until each of the active announcements has beenplayed once, and then the CAU would start over playing the first activeannouncement in place of the next ring if the phone continues to ring,and so on, until the phone is answered or the caller hangs up. The CAUbegins playing active announcements after reference ring “X.” Forexample, if “X” were set to two, the telephone would ring normallytwice, and the third ring would be replaced by the first activeannouncement.

Under “play option” (3), the CAU 10 would play one of the activeannouncements at random in place of, for example, the first ring, play asecond one of the active announcements at random in place of the secondring, play a third one of the active announcements at random in place ofthe third ring, and so on, until the phone is answered or the callerhangs up. When the “play option” is set to option (3) on the fifth menu,the CAU plays the announcements in a truly random order (e.g., even iffive announcements were active, the announcement played in place of thefirst ring could be the same as the announcement played in place of thesecond ring). The CAU begins playing the randomly-selected announcementsafter reference ring “X.” For example, if “X” were set to three, thetelephone would ring normally three times, and the fourth ring would bereplaced by the first randomly-selected announcement. Then, the fifthring would be replaced by the second randomly-selected announcement, asso on, until the telephone is answered or the caller hangs up.

Under “play option” (4) from the fifth menu, the CAU 10 would play oneof the active announcements at random in place of, for example, a firstring, play a second one of the active announcements at random in placeof the second ring, play a third one of the active announcements atrandom in place of the third ring, and so on, until the phone isanswered or the caller hangs up. This option is different from option(3) in that under option (4), the CAU plays the announcementspseudo-randomly, being required, for example, to play each of the activeannouncements once before repeating any particular active announcement.Under this “play option,” the CAU begins playing thepseudo-randomly-selected announcements after reference ring “X.” Forexample, if “X” were set to one, the telephone would ring normally onetime, and the second ring would be replaced by the firstpseudo-randomly-selected announcement. Then, the third ring would bereplaced by the second pseudo-randomly-selected announcement, as so on,until the telephone is answered or the caller hangs up.

Under “play option” (5) on the fifth menu (see block 186), the CAU 10would play a particular selected announcement associated with a phonenumber only once, and the phone would otherwise ring normally. Theselected announcement would be played in place of the ring afterreference ring “X.”

Under “play option” (6) on the fifth menu, the CAU 10 would play aparticular selected announcement associated with a telephone numberover-and-over no matter how many different announcements are active. Theselected announcement would be played in place of all normal rings afterreference ring “X.” If “X” were set to zero, the telephone would neverring normally, and the selected announcement would be played in place ofall normal rings.

Under “play option” (7) on the fifth menu, the CAU 10 would increase thevolume at which each active announcement is played with each successivering. This option may be selected whenever at least two announcementsare to be played (i.e., play option (2), (3), or (4)) or whenever thesame announcement is to be repeated (i.e., play option (6)).

It should be noted that if only one announcement is available for aparticular telephone number, or if only one of several availableannouncements is made active in block 176 (FIG. 1C), the logic may onlypermit selection of options (1), (5), (6), or (7) from the fifth menu(block 186) to remind the user that only a single announcement is activefor the particular telephone number. Similarly, if more than oneannouncement has been made active for a particular telephone number, thelogic may not permit selection of option (5) or option (6) from thefifth menu since the logic will be unable to determine which of multipleactive announcements to play.

Clearly, other options are possible. For example, the “play option”could be set to play announcements pseudo-randomly, but also requirethat a particular announcement cannot be played more than two timesbefore each of the active announcements has been played at least once.Another possible “play option” would be to allow the telephone to ringnormally every other time during a single call, alternating with one ormore announcements that play between normal rings (e.g., ringnormally—play active announcement 1—ring normally—play activeannouncement 2—ring normally, etc.; or ring normally—play activeannouncement 1—play active announcement 2—ring normally—play activeannouncement 3—play active announcement 4—ring normally, etc.). As yetanother alternative, the “play option” could be set to replace everyring that is a whole number multiple of a user-selected number with theactive announcement(s).

Similarly, the CAU 10 could be configured to randomly select a firstannouncement and then play it in lieu of all normal rings during a firstcall from a first caller. Then, during a second call from the firstcaller, a new random announcement could be selected and played in lieuof all normal rings during the second call. Or, the CAU 10 could beconfigured to select a first active announcement and play it in lieu ofall rings during a first call from a first caller. Then, during a secondcall from the first caller, a second active announcement could beautomatically selected to play in lieu of all normal rings during thesecond call. Then, during a third call from the first caller, a thirdactive announcement could be automatically selected to play in lieu ofall normal rings during the third call, as so on.

FIG. 5 is a schematic representation of an incoming call being announcedthrough a speaker 50 by the CAU 10. The CAU may include a volume controlknob 44 (see FIG. 4). As shown in FIG. 5, the CAU 10 is capable ofreceiving “calls” from a variety of sources, including, for example,landline telephones 52, mobile telephones 54, computers 56, and handhelddevice or other message sources 58. In order to determine when to playan announcement and which announcement to play, a control programcomprising an integral part of, or associated with, the CAU 10 mayfollow the logic presented in the flowchart of FIGS. 6A-6E, which isdiscussed next.

Referring first to FIG. 6A, from start block 600, the logic transfers toblock 602. At block 602, the CAU 10 is initialized. Initialization ofthe CAU was previously discussed. Following initialization, controltransfers to block 604 where the CAU waits for an incoming telephonecall. At decision block 606, the system monitors a telephone line for anincoming call. If no incoming telephone call is detected, the systemcontinues to loop between block 604 and decision point 606. Upondetection of an incoming telephone call, the logic goes to block 608 andattempts to identify the telephone number of the incoming call. This maybe completed, for example, using standard caller ID service provided bytelephone service providers. At decision point 610, the logic checks tosee if the system was able to resolve the telephone number of theincoming call. If the logic is unable to resolve the telephone number ofthe incoming telephone call, control transfers to block 618 and thetelephone may rings normally. After block 618, control is transferred tooff-page transfer block 620, which advances the program to correspondingblock 622 on FIG. 6D. The logic in the portion of the flowchartpresented in FIG. 6D is explained further below. Essentially, this logicmonitors the telephone line for ring pulses so that the system mayrespond appropriately. Alternatively, rather than ringing normally whenthe CAU is unable to resolve the telephone number of an incomingtelephone call, the system could be programmed to reject such anunidentifiable incoming call, without or with an announcement to thecaller (e.g., “The number you have called rejects incoming calls likethis one that block caller ID information.”) and could announce throughthe CAU, “An incoming call was just rejected for blocking caller IDinformation.”

Returning to decision point 610, if the logic is able to resolve thetelephone number of the incoming telephone call, control transfers toblock 612. At block 612, the “announcement information” and the “actioninformation” is read or loaded. The “announcement information” includesall announcements themselves. The “announcement information” couldinclude, for example, the following for a selected telephone number:

-   -   Announcement 1: “It's Bob, pick up.”    -   Announcement 2: “I'm not going to wait much longer—I'm on my        cellular—pick up.”    -   Announcement 3: “Don't you want to talk with me?”    -   Announcement 4: “Catch you later.”

As previously discussed, the “action information” includes informationconcerning which announcements are active, the reference ringinformation, and the play option. For the above sample announcements,assume that play option (2) was selected for telephone calls from thespecified telephone number, and assume that announcements 1, 2, and 4are the only active announcements. If the reference ring is set to “0,”then “It's Bob, pick up” would be played in lieu of the first ring, “I'mnot going to wait much longer—I'm on my cellular—pick up” would beplayed in lieu of the second ring, and “Catch you later” would be playedin lieu of the third ring. This announcement “family” would work wellfor a caller who typically hangs up after the third or fourth ring. Ifthe caller lets the telephone continue to ring beyond the third ring inthis example, the system would either start over with announcement 1 orwould thereafter ring normally at the call-receiving party's choice.

Referring again to FIG. 6A, after the system reads or loads the“announcement information” and the “action information” into its activememory at block 612, control transfers to block 614. At block 614, thesystem displays, if desired, the call information it has resolved fromthe caller ID service as is done in a prior art caller ID system. Then,at decision point 616, the logic begins to decipher how it is going toplay the announcement(s) it has now loaded for the identified incomingtelephone call. In particular, if play option (1) has been selected (seebox 186 on FIG. 1C), control transfers to block 618, and the telephonerings normally (i.e., as though the CAU is not connected to thetelephone line). After block 618, control is transferred to off-pagetransfer block 620, which takes the program to corresponding block 622on FIG. 6D.

The logic in the portion of the flowchart presented in FIG. 6D monitorsthe telephone line for ring pulses so that the system may respondappropriately. At decision point 624 the system expects a ring pulse. Ifone is sensed, control transfers to return block 626. Under the currentexample, return block 626 return the system to block 620, which nowtransfers the logic back to block 618 where the telephone again ringsnormally. After the telephone rings again normally, the logic again goesto off-page transfer block 620, which again takes the program tocorresponding block 622 and then to decision point 624 on FIG. 6D.Assuming that no ring pulse is detected at decision point 624, controlis transferred to decision point 628. At decision point 628, the systemresolves whether the telephone has been answered. The system can tell ifsomeone answered the telephone in any known way (e.g., by monitoringline load). If the system determines that the telephone has actuallybeen answered at decision point 628, control is transferred to off-pagetransfer block 630, which takes the program to corresponding block 632on FIG. 6A and then returns the system to block 604 on that figure,where the logic starts waiting for the next incoming telephone call. Ifat decision point 628 (FIG. 6D) the logic determined that the telephonehad not been answered, then control is transferred to decision point634. At this decision point 634, the logic determines whether the systemhas “timed out.” In particular, the system can determine that a callerhung up by, for example, tracking time elapsed between ring pulses fromthe telephone line. If too much time elapses between ring pulses, thesystem could “time out” due to an excessive period since the last ringpulse. If the system has not timed out (i.e., if the system remains“optimistic” that a ring is on the horizon), it transfers control backto block 624 where it again checks for a new ring pulse. If, on theother hand, the logic determines at decision block 634 that the callermust have hung up, control is again transferred to off-page transferblock 630, which takes the program to corresponding block 632 on FIG. 6Aand then returns the system to block 604 on that figure, where the logicagain starts waiting for the next incoming telephone call.

Returning to decision point 616 on FIG. 6A, a different scenario is nowconsidered. If the logic determines that one or more announcements areto be played (i.e., if the answer to the question posed in decisionblock 616 is “no”), the system must determine whether there are anyannouncements to be played. This check is accomplished at decision block636. If no announcements exist for the telephone number from which atelephone call is being received, control is again transferred to block618, and the process previously described is again carried out. If, onthe other hand, decision point 636 determines that at least oneannouncement is available for the telephone number associated with theincoming telephone call, control is transferred via off-page transferblock 638 to corresponding block 640 on FIG. 6B and then to decisionpoint 642 on that figure. At decision point 642, the logic determineswhether there are multiple announcements associated with the telephonenumber for the incoming call. If there is only one announcementassociated with the incoming call, control is transferred to block 644,where the announcement to be played is set to announcement 1;.

Returning to decision point 642, if the logic determines that there arein fact multiple announcements associated with the telephone number forthe incoming telephone call, the system must determine whichannouncement is to be played first. Thus, control is transferred todecision point 646. At this decision point the system check to see ifplay option (2) has been selected. Play option (2) requires that thesystem loop through all active announcements in order after referencering “X.” If play (2) was in fact selected, control transfers to block644, where the announcement to be played is set to announcement 1.

Returning to decision point 646, if the logic determines that playoption (2) was not selected, the system next determines whether playoption (5) or play option (6) was selected. It makes this latterdetermination at decision point 648. If play option (5) or play option(6) was in fact selected, control is transferred to block 650, where theannouncement to be played is set to the particular announcement nselected by the call-receiving party (a) to be played once per call inplace of the ring after reference ring “X” (if option (5) was selected);or (b) to be played in place of all rings after reference ring “X”during the call (if option (6) was selected).

Returning to decision point 648, if the logic determines that neitherplay option (5) nor play option (6) was selected, control is transferredto off-page connector symbol 652, which transfers control to block 654on FIG. 6E. From block 654, the logic next moves to block 656, where itrandomly sets the announcement to be played to one of the activeannouncements. Control is subsequently transferred to decision point658, where the logic determines whether play option (4) was selected.Play option (4) requires that the system play all active announcementspseudo-randomly after reference ring “X.” If play (4) was in factselected, control transfers to decision point 660, where the systemchecks whether the announcement to be played has already been playedduring the current telephone call. If the announcement that is currentlyselected to be played has already been played, control is transferred todecision point 662. At decision point 662, the logic checks to see ifall of the active announcements have been played at least once duringthe current telephone call. If all of the active announcements have notyet been played at least once during the current telephone call, controlis transferred back to block 656, where a different active is randomlyselected to be played. Decision points 658, 660, and 662 thereby ensurethat each active announcement is played at least once before any activeannouncement is played a second time during a telephone call wheneverthe call-receiving party has set the CAU 10 to play the activeannouncements pseudo-randomly. Once the logic sets the announcement tobe played according to this logic, control is transferred to block 664,which returns the system to block 652 on FIG. 6B.

Returning to decision point 658 on FIG. 6E, if the play option (4) wasnot selected, the system knows that play option (3) must have beenselected. Play option (3) requires that the system play all activeannouncements randomly after reference ring “X.” That being the case,the logic immediately goes to block 664 after randomly selecting one ofthe active announcements to be played. Block 664 returns the system toblock 652 on FIG. 6B.

Returning to FIG. 6B, control now transfers to block 668. At this pointthe logic has set the announcement to be played according to one of thelogic paths previously described. At this point the system thus knowswhat announcement it is to play, so it must determine whether it is timeto play the selected announcement. At decision point 670, the logicresolves whether the reference ring “X” has occurred. If it has notoccurred, the logic is transferred to block 672, and the telephone ringsnormally. After the telephone rings, the logic advances to off-pagetransfer block 674, which transfers control to corresponding off-pagetransfer block 662 on FIG. 6D. As previously discussed, the logic onFIG. 6D monitors the telephone line for any one of the following eventsto occur: the next ring pulse, the telephone being answered, or thetelephone caller to hanging up. If the next ring pulse occurs before thetelephone is answered and before the caller hangs up, return block 626on FIG. 6D returns control to block 674 on FIG. 6B, which now sends thelogic back to decision point 670 to determine if the specified referencering “X” has occurred. Assuming that the specified reference ring “X”has in fact occurred, the logic advances to block 676, where the“announcement to be played” is actually played through the speaker ofthe CAU 10. The logic then advances to off-page transfer block 678,which transfers control to corresponding off-page transfer block 680 onFIG. 6C.

Referring to FIG. 6C, the logic for selecting the announcement, if any,to be played in place of rings after the first ring is described next.At decision point 682, the logic determines whether play option (5) hasbeen selected. Under “play option” (5) on the fifth menu (see block186), the CAU 10 is to play a particular selected announcementassociated with a phone number only once, and the phone otherwise ringsnormally. Thus, if at decision point 682 the logic determines that playoption (5) was selected, control advances to off-page transfer block684, which transfers control to corresponding off-page transfer block622 on FIG. 6D. As previously explained, the logic depicted in FIG. 6Dmonitors the telephone line for any one of the following events tooccur: the next ring pulse, the telephone being answered, or thetelephone caller hanging up. If the next ring pulse occurs before thetelephone is answered and before the caller hangs up, return block 626on FIG. 6D returns control to block 686 on FIG. 6C. At block 686, thetelephone rings normally since the announcement has already been playedonce, satisfying play option (5). The logic then returns to off-pagetransfer block 684, which again transfers control to correspondingoff-page transfer block 622 on FIG. 6D. This looping occurs with thetelephone ringing normally until either the telephone is answered or thecaller hangs up.

Returning to decision point 682, if other than play option (5) has beenselected, the logic advances to decision point 688, where the logicdetermines whether play option (6) has been selected. If play option (6)is active, the selected announcement is to be played in place of allrings after reference ring “X.” To accomplish this, the logic advancesto off-page transfer block 690, which transfers control to correspondingoff-page transfer block 622 on FIG. 6D. As previously explained, thelogic depicted in FIG. 6D monitors the telephone line for any one of thefollowing events to occur: the next ring pulse, the telephone beinganswered, or the telephone caller hanging up. If the next ring pulseoccurs before the telephone is answered and before the caller hangs up,return block 626 on FIG. 6D returns control to block 690 on FIG. 6C. Thelogic subsequently advances to block 692, which plays announcement nagain under this scenario. The logic then returns to decision point 688.This looping occurs with announcement n being played in place of eachtelephone ring until either the telephone is answered or the callerhangs up.

Returning to decision point 688, if other than play option (6) has beenselected, the logic advances to decision point 694, where the logicdetermines whether play option (2) has been selected. If play option (2)is active, the system is to loop through all active announcements inorder during a call after reference ring “X” occurs. To accomplish this,the logic advances to block 696 where the announcement to be played isset to the next active announcement in order. If the CAU 10 played thelast active announcement in lieu of the immediately prior ring, thefirst active announcement is selected as the next announcement to beplayed. The logic then advances to off-page transfer block 690, whichtransfers control to corresponding off-page transfer block 622 on FIG.6D. As previously explained, the logic depicted in FIG. 6D monitors thetelephone line for any one of the following events to occur: the nextring pulse, the telephone being answered, or the telephone callerhanging up. If the next ring pulse occurs before the telephone isanswered and before the caller hangs up, return block 626 on FIG. 6Dreturns control to block 690 on FIG. 6C. The logic subsequently advancesto block 692, which plays the queued-up announcement. The logic thenreturns to decision point 688. This looping occurs with the activeannouncements being played in order in place of each telephone ringuntil either the telephone is answered or the caller hangs up.

Returning to decision point 694, if play option (2) has not beenselected, the logic knows that the active announcement is to be playedrandomly or pseudo-randomly. Control thus advances to off-page transferblock 698, which transfers control to corresponding off-page transferblock 654 on FIG. 6E. As discussed above, the logic depicted on FIG. 6Eeither randomly or pseudo-randomly queues up the next announcement to beplayed. Once the next announcement to be played has been selected,return block 664 on FIG. 6E transfers control back to off-page transferblock 698. From there, the logic advances to off-page transfer block690, which transfers control to corresponding off-page transfer block622 on FIG. 6D. As previously explained, the logic depicted in FIG. 6Dmonitors the telephone line for any one of the following events tooccur: the next ring pulse, the telephone being answered, or thetelephone caller hanging up. If the next ring pulse occurs before thetelephone is answered and before the caller hangs up, return block 626on FIG. 6D returns control to block 690 on FIG. 6C. The logicsubsequently advances to block 692, which plays the queued-upannouncement that was randomly or pseudo-randomly selected. The logicthen returns to decision point 688. This looping occurs with the nextrandomly or pseudo-randomly selected active announcement being played inplace of each telephone ring until either the telephone is answered orthe caller hangs up.

Although several embodiments of this invention have been described abovewith a certain degree of particularity, those skilled in the art couldmake numerous alterations to the disclosed embodiments without departingfrom the spirit or scope of this invention. For example, the CAU maycomprise a number of separate components. The CAU may be built into thecall-receiving party's telephone (whether a landline telephone or acellular telephone), it may comprise part of an answering machine, or itmay comprise a standalone unit. The CAU also could be implemented usinga computer. Further, the CAU 10 could be configured to allow forassociation of the same set of announcements to more than one telephonenumber (e.g., the same announcements could be associated with both thecellular telephone number and the work telephone number of a singlecaller if the call-receiving party only cares who is calling and notnecessarily the number from which the call in being placed). Also,although the CAU according to the present invention does not itselfdirectly manipulate announcements (e.g., permit changing of tones orclean-up of static or removal of certain portions or rearranging of theparts of an announcement to form a new announcement), a moresophisticated CAU could be made to perform these additional functions.The CAU may also be configured to play an announcement while thecall-receiving party is conducting a telephone conversation with anotherparty. This latter feature would work similar to a “call waiting”function, but an announcement would be played rather than the “tone”that is typically played in existing systems. It is intended that allmatter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanyingdrawings shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not limiting.Changes in detail or structure may be made without departing from thespirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

1. A system for identifying an incoming caller to a call-receivingparty, the system comprising the following: (1) means for identifying atelephone number from which an incoming call has been placed; (2) meansfor associating a plurality of aural announcements with said identifiedtelephone number, wherein said plurality of aural announcements identifythe incoming caller to the call-receiving party; and (3) means forselecting and playing, upon receipt of said incoming call, a first oneof said plurality of aural announcement in response to receipt of afirst selected ring pulse, and for selecting and playing a second one ofsaid plurality of aural announcement in response to receipt of a secondring pulse during said incoming call.
 2. A system for identifying anincoming caller to a call-receiving party, the system comprising meansfor storing a first plurality of selectable announcements; means fordetecting connection of a first telephone call to a telephone line ofthe call-receiving party; means for determining a telephone number ofsaid first telephone call upon said detecting means detecting connectionof said first telephone call to said telephone line of thecall-receiving party; means for associating said first plurality ofselectable announcements with said telephone number of said firsttelephone call; means for selecting a first announcement from said firstplurality of selectable announcements to be played in response to afirst selected ring pulse received at said telephone line; means foraurally playing said first announcement in lieu of said first selectedring pulse producing a first ringing sound; means for selecting a secondannouncement from said first plurality or selectable announcements to beplayed in response to a second selected ring pulse received at saidtelephone line; and means for aurally playing said second announcementin lieu of said second selected ring pulse producing a second ringingsound.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein said means for selecting saidfirst announcement from said first plurality of selectable announcementsand said means for selecting said second announcement from said firstplurality of selectable announcements together comprise a singleselecting means.
 4. The system of claim 2, wherein said first auralannouncement is different from said second aural announcement.
 5. Asystem for aurally identifying an incoming caller before answering atelephone, the system comprising associating means for associating afirst plurality of aural announcements with a first telephone number andfor associating a second plurality of aural announcements with a secondtelephone number, wherein said first plurality of aural announcementsidentify a first caller to a call-receiving party, and wherein saidsecond plurality of aural announcements identify a second caller to saidcall-receiving party; identifying means for identifying a firstplurality of ring pulses generated in response to a first incomingtelephone call originating from said first telephone number, and foridentifying a second plurality of ring pulses generated in response to asecond incoming telephone call originating from said second telephonenumber, selecting means for (i) selecting a first aural announcementfrom said first plurality of aural announcements in response to a firstring pulse in said first plurality of ring pulses; (ii) selecting asecond aural announcement from said first plurality of auralannouncements in response to a second ring pulse in said first pluralityof ring pulses; (iii) selecting a first aural announcement from saidsecond plurality of aural announcements in response to a first ringpulse in said second plurality of ring pulses; and (iv) selecting asecond aural announcement from said second plurality of auralannouncements in response to a second ring pulse in said secondplurality of ring pulses; and playing means for (i) playing said firstaural announcement from said first plurality of aural announcements inlieu of said first ring pulse in said first plurality of ring pulses;(ii) playing said second aural announcement from said first plurality ofaural announcements in lieu of said second ring pulse in said firstplurality of ring pulses; (iii) playing said first aural announcementfrom said second plurality of aural announcements in lieu of said firstring pulse in said second plurality of ring pulses; and (iv) playingsaid second aural announcement from said second plurality of auralannouncements in lieu of said second ring pulse in said second pluralityof ring pulses.
 6. The system of claim 5, wherein said selecting meansselects said first and second aural announcements from said firstplurality of aural announcements seriatim, whereby said first selectedaural announcement from said first plurality of aural announcements is afirst aural announcement in said first plurality of aural announcements,and whereby said second selected aural announcement from said firstplurality of aural announcements is a second aural announcement in saidfirst plurality of aural announcements.
 7. The system of claim 5,wherein said selecting means selects said first and second auralannouncements from said first plurality of aural announcements randomly.8. The system of claim 5, wherein said selecting means selects saidfirst and second aural announcements from said first plurality of auralannouncements pseudo-randomly.
 9. The system of claim 5, wherein saidselecting means selects said first and second aural announcements fromsaid first plurality of aural announcements randomly, and wherein saidselecting means selects said first and second aural announcements fromsaid second plurality of aural announcements randomly.
 10. The system ofclaim 5, wherein said selecting means selects said first and secondaural announcements from said first plurality of aural announcementspseudo-randomly, and wherein said selecting means selects said first andsecond aural announcements from said second plurality of auralannouncements pseudo-randomly.
 11. The system of claim 5, wherein saidselecting means selects said first and second aural announcements fromsaid first plurality of aural announcements randomly, and wherein saidselecting means selects said first and second aural announcements fromsaid second plurality of aural announcements pseudo-randomly.
 12. Thesystem of claim 5, wherein said selecting means selects said first andsecond aural announcements from said first plurality of auralannouncements seriatim, whereby said first selected aural announcementfrom said first plurality of aural announcements is a first auralannouncement in said first plurality of aural announcements, and wherebysaid second selected aural announcement from said first plurality ofaural announcements is a second aural announcement in said firstplurality of aural announcements; and wherein said selecting meansselects said first and second aural announcements from said secondplurality of aural announcements pseudo-randomly.
 13. A system foridentifying an incoming caller to a call-receiving party, the systemcomprising the following: means for storing a first plurality ofselectable aural announcements; means for detecting connection of afirst telephone call to a telephone line of the call-receiving party;means for determining a telephone number of said first telephone callupon said detecting means detecting connection of said first telephonecall to said telephone line of the call-receiving party; means forassociating said first plurality of selectable aural announcements withsaid telephone number of said first telephone call; means for selectinga first aural announcement from said first plurality of selectable auralannouncements to be played in response to a first selected ring pulsereceived at said telephone line; means for aurally playing said firstaural announcement in lieu of said first selected ring pulse producing afirst ringing sound; means for selecting a second aural announcementfrom said first plurality of selectable aural announcements to be playedin response to a second selected ring pulse received at said telephoneline; and means for aurally playing said second aural announcement inlieu of said second selected ring pulse producing a second ringingsound; wherein said means for selecting said first aural announcementfrom said first plurality of selectable aural announcements is adaptedto select said first aural announcement from said first plurality ofselectable aural announcements randomly, and wherein said means forselecting said second aural announcement from said first plurality ofselectable aural announcements is adapted to select said second auralannouncement from said first plurality of selectable announcementsrandomly.
 14. A system for identifying an incoming caller to acall-receiving party, the system comprising the following: means forstoring a first plurality of selectable aural announcements; means fordetecting connection of a first telephone call to a telephone line ofthe call-receiving party; means for determining a telephone number ofsaid first telephone call upon said detecting means detecting connectionof said first telephone call to said telephone line of thecall-receiving party; means for associating said first plurality ofselectable aural announcements with said telephone number of said firsttelephone call; means for selecting a first aural announcement from saidfirst plurality of selectable aural announcements to be played inresponse to a first selected ring pulse received at said telephone line;means for aurally playing said first aural announcement in lieu of saidfirst selected ring pulse producing a first ringing sound; means forselecting a second aural announcement from said first plurality ofselectable aural announcements to be played in response to a secondselected ring pulse received at said telephone line; and means foraurally playing said second aural announcement in lieu of said secondselected ring pulse producing a second ringing sound; wherein said meansfor selecting said first aural announcement from said first plurality ofselectable aural announcements is adapted to select said first auralannouncement from said first plurality of selectable aural announcementspseudo-randomly, and wherein said means for selecting said second auralannouncement from said first plurality of selectable aural announcementsis adapted to select said second aural announcement from said firstplurality of selectable announcements pseudo-randomly.
 15. A system foridentifying an incoming caller to a call-receiving party, the systemcomprising the following: means for storing a first plurality ofselectable aural announcements; means for detecting connection of afirst telephone call to a telephone line of the call-receiving party;means for determining a telephone number of said first telephone callupon said detecting means detecting connection of said first telephonecall to said telephone line of the call-receiving party; means forassociating said first plurality of selectable aural announcements withsaid telephone number of said first telephone call; means for selectinga first aural announcement from said first plurality of selectable auralannouncements to be played in response to a first selected ring pulsereceived at said telephone line; means for aurally playing said firstaural announcement in lieu of said first selected ring pulse producing afirst ringing sound; means for selecting a second aural announcementfrom said first plurality of selectable aural announcements to be playedin response to a second selected ring pulse received at said telephoneline; and means for aurally playing said second aural announcement inlieu of said second selected ring pulse producing a second ringingsound; wherein said means for selecting said first aural announcementfrom said first plurality of selectable aural announcements and saidmeans for selecting said second aural announcement from said firstplurality of selectable aural announcements together comprise a singleselecting means, and wherein said single selecting means is adapted toselect said first and second aural announcements from said firstplurality of selectable aural announcements randomly.
 16. A system foridentifying an incoming caller to a call-receiving party, the systemcomprising the following: means for storing a first plurality ofselectable aural announcements; means for detecting connection of afirst telephone call to a telephone line of the call-receiving party;means for determining a telephone number of said first telephone callupon said detecting means detecting connection of said first telephonecall to said telephone line of the call-receiving party; means forassociating said first plurality of selectable aural announcements withsaid telephone number of said first telephone call; means for selectinga first aural announcement from said first plurality of selectable auralannouncements to be played in response to a first selected ring pulsereceived at said telephone line; means for aurally playing said firstaural announcement in lieu of said first selected ring pulse producing afirst ringing sound; means for selecting a second aural announcementfrom said first plurality of selectable aural announcements to be playedin response to a second selected ring pulse received at said telephoneline; and means for aurally playing said second aural announcement inlieu of said second selected ring pulse producing a second ringingsound; wherein said means for selecting said first aural announcementfrom said first plurality of selectable aural announcements and saidmeans for selecting said second aural announcement from said firstplurality of selectable aural announcements together comprise a singleselecting means, and wherein said single selecting means is adapted toselect said first and second aural announcements from said firstplurality of selectable aural announcements pseudo-randomly.